BlogExplosion

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Maddie's 7th birthday party is coming up this weekend -- a "late-over!" We've been busily decorating the house with stickers featuring her dog theme, and trying to decide between Space Buds and Beverly Hills Chihuahua as the dog-themed movie choice. Due to her sister's dog allergies, however, Maddie has been focused on getting a hypoallergenic pet for her birthday. A couple of weeks ago she announced that she wanted a hermit crab, so last weekend we went to Petco in Bridgewater and acquired Lindsay Lenny for Maddie and a player to be named later for London. So far they have not been all that active or interesting... I'll post some pictures if/when they come out to play. London's hermit crab pinched her (unprovoked!) the day we brought him/her home, so she's been a bit wary about picking up her hermit crab. We found these hermit crabs in the pet store's reptile section, but we've been wondering... are hermit crabs reptiles?

Last night, Maddie and London's 4-H Prep club took part in the 4-H reptile club's meeting, and we were introduced to all kinds of reptiles... corn snakes, boa constrictors, frogs, and lots more... including leopard geckoes like the one in the photo above and a couple of bearded dragons (photo below). No one brought their pet hermit crab, and we forgot to ask the reptile authorities whether Maddie's hermit crab would qualify her for membership.

I was really impressed with all of the 4-Hers' knowledge about their pets, including detail on their native habitat, how they live in captivity, and what they like to eat... which ruled out the snakes, as I'm not going to store frozen rats next to the Ben & Jerry's in our freezer for "poaching" in boiling water in one of Rex's best pots every two weeks! Bearded dragons, on the other hand, like crickets and collard greens...

I have been in your shoes, I also have a daughter with not only allergies, but asthma as well. That ruled out anything with fur or feathers for a pet. Personally, I opted for an aquarium full of colorful tropical fish. I wanted to avoid all the tears, screams and general trauma caused when we would have to feed the reptiles. I wouldn't have minded the crickets for the lizards, but the "pinkies" which are live newborn rats, hamsters, and gerbils, that are the (live) food for the snakes... they would be an issue. Like Clarice, who could never forget the sounds of the lambs, I fear my daughter would forever be haunted by the sounds of the "pinkies" as they met their end.

Fish are great....and the food is dry flakes that come in plastic canisters.